Monique Barry stuns top seed in ASB Classic qualifying

Monique Barry delivered the performance of her career at the ASB Classic, upsetting top seed Ena Shibahara 7-6, 6-4 in the first round of qualifying.

Mastering gusty winds at Auckland’s Manuka Doctor Arena, the Kiwi, ranked 506 in the world, overcame Shibahara’s experience and poise to notch her first victory against a top-150 opponent.

Barry lost to Elyse Tse in the semifinals of the wildcard playoff on Monday, but was given a wildcard for the qualifying draw and she made the most of it by recording a win over a top 150 player for the first time in her career.

“I just went into the match being really happy to be there,” Barry said. 

“I had the opportunity to have a wildcard again, unfortunately, not the main draw, but going into qualies and just having some fun. 

“It's really windy out there today, so I was just trying to do my best with the wind, because I played the ITFs beforehand (in Wellington and Papamoa) and it was really windy. 

“So I was kind of used to that, and just doing the most that I could with my game and she was struggling a little bit with that.” 

When serving for the first set, Barry was broken. However, she quickly took control of the tiebreak, winning it 7-1.

The Kiwi went down a break early in the second set, but never gave up and not only got the break back, she broke her opponent once more when she was serving at 4-5.

In the second round of qualifying, Barry will play Lina Glushko from Israel, who is ranked 221 in the world and caused an upset on Saturday by knocking out the No 8 seed Louisa Chirico from the States 7-6 6-3.

It’s another opportunity for Barry to beat a player ranked much higher than her and finish off a year that’s been another step forward for the 22-year-old, with her ranking going from 597 to 504 over the year.

“It was very long, but I thought I did well (in 2024),” Barry said. 

“A career high again, I’m just trying to work on my game and then getting the opportunity when I can, which was today, and really enjoying it more. So, yeah, it's been a big year.”

Valentina had an incredible battle against Leyre Romero Gormaz from Spain and came incredibly close to making it two victories on the day for Kiwi players. 

However, she lost 6-7(3) 7-6(3) 6-4 in a match that lasted for three hours, six minutes.

In the other qualifying match involving a Kiwi, Tse put up a good fight, but lost 6-4 6-2 to second seed Nao Hibino from Japan.